Many surgical procedures require a specific, specialized group of surgical tools with any one procedure potentially requiring anywhere from just a few to literally dozens of individual tools. The tools must be sterilized and presented at the surgical site in a manner facilitating quick selection and retrieval of a needed tool by the medical practitioner during the surgical procedure. This is especially true in the dental arts, where many dental instruments are typically used in quick succession during one procedure. For example, a dental implant procedure normally requires the sequential use of several dental burrs (i.e. drills) of increasingly larger diameter, in addition to the intermediate and/or subsequent use of other implant tools (i.e. implant component insertion and extraction tools).
Container systems have been developed in the past which organize, sterilize, store and present a specific group of tools for a dental or other surgical procedure, all in the same container. In this regard, it is normally intended that the surgical tool container system organize a group of tools in a manner allowing the medical practitioner to retrieve the needed tools directly from the container during the surgical procedure. Examples of such containers may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,676 to Brooks. Unfortunately, these as well as other prior container systems of their kind have given little attention to at least two very important considerations of such containers: (1) securing the tools in the container in a manner substantially preventing the accidental dislodgment of the tools from their original place within the container regardless of container orientation; (2) the ease by which a medical practitioner can quickly identify, select and then remove the needed tool from a group of tools within the container during a surgical procedure.
Regarding the first consideration, during normal handling the container may be inverted from its correct orientation, thus potentially disturbing the organization of the tools within the container. Should this occur, valuable time is spent on re-organizing the tools within the container prior to the surgical procedure, and hopefully without the need for re-sterilization should some of the tools fall entirely out of the container. The container thus preferably includes means to securely retain the tools in their organized position within the container, regardless of the orientation of the container.
Regarding the second consideration, the medical practitioner needs to be able to identify, select and remove the needed tool from the container quickly and easily, and advantageously with the use of a single hand.
Since the tools are sterilized in the same container in which they are stored and used in surgery, the container must be very durable so as to withstand repeated sterilization cycles and handling. While the container must be durable and include features to securely retain the tools in their position within the container, those features must not conflict with the need for quick identification and retrieval of a tool from the container. Also, once the surgical procedure is finished, the tools must be replaced in their original positions within the container. Thus, it is furthermore desirable that the features which permit the secure retention of the tools within the container also permit quick and easy replacement of those same tools back in their original positions in the container. These features provide a container system in which the group of tools may be quickly reorganized for subsequent sterilization, storage and use cycles.
The foregoing discussion of the prior art was taken largely from U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,314 to Hurson in which there is disclosed surgical tool sterilization trays provided with a plurality of holes formed therethrough and wherein the plurality of elastomeric grommets are fitted into the holes. According to the '314 patent, each grommet includes an axially extending bore wherein the shank of a surgical tool may be inserted and frictionally engaged in a gently upright orientation with respect to the tray. The grommets reportedly removably secure the tools in their original positions within the container regardless of container orientation, yet permit the quick and easy removal of a tool from the container during a surgical procedure, as well as equally quick and easy replacement of the tool within the container for subsequent sterilization and use cycles. See, also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,115 to Latulippe which discloses an alternative grommeted surgical tray arrangement.
While surgical tray systems such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,525,314 and 5,518,115 meet the above considerations, such patented trays do have certain disadvantages. For one, assembling the many grommets into the tray is tedious and time-consuming, thus adding to production costs. Also, the grommets tend to mask areas on the base plate or tray, both under the heads of the grommets and in the walls of the apertures in the trays, thus providing potential sites for condensation and contamination traps.